Container construction for boxes or crates



1 2 M 4% o T mu w 6, 2% n. .1 E H w W. J. CELLA CONTAINER CONSTRUCTION FOR BOXES QR CRATES Filed June 29, 1951 April 7, 1953 Patented Apr. 7, 1953 OFFICE 2,634,021 CONTAINER CONSTRUCTION FOR Boxes R CRATES Wiliiam J. Cella, Huntington, N. Y.

Application June 29, 1951, Serial No. 234,179

' This invention relates toboxes or crates, and particularly to those of thetype employed-for containing bottled goods, such as bottles of milk, or more especially the paper containers in which milk and other liquid products are contained- An object of the invention is to provide a box or crate of this character which will be strongly reinforced; which will hold the goods in a secure and sanitary manner; which will prevent tearing or rupture of the paper containers and thus effectively protect the goods during shipment and delivery.

Another object of the invention is to provide a box or crate of this kind, with reinforcing and stacking elements, so mounted at the corners of the box or crate to facilitate the stacking of the crates and to protect the crate from becoming misshapen or broken despite the hard usage to which these crates are subjected.

It is still another object of the invention to provide means for strongly reinforcing the crate, and locating and positioning the reinforcing elements in such a manner as to avoid projection of the same on the interior of the crate and thus preventing portions of such elements from coming into contact with and damaging the contents of the crate.

These and other objects are attained by the invention, a more particular description of which will hereinafter appear and beset forth in the claim appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown, Fig. l is a top plan view of one of the corner portions of a box or crate constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a face view of a portion of one of the end walls of the box 'or crate, adjacent to a corner thereof;

Fig. 3 is a. sectional view, taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view, taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the are likely to be torn or ruptured if not properly protected, it is desirable that the interior of the box or crate be free from elements which might tend to abrade. tear or cut the containers 1 Claim. (01. 220-97) 2 and cause leakage of the contents. These boxes or crates are usually of rectangular form, and provided with two wooden side walls, one of which is indicated at l. The two end walls are preferably composed of sheet metal, one of such end walls being indicated at 2, the two walls I and 2 being arranged at right angles and meeting to form the corner of the box. These boxes are provided with a sheet metal bottom 20, apertured for drainage as indicated at 2|. The side walls I are each reinforced at the top by means of a metal channel member 3, and the end walls 2 are reinforced at the top by a. box reinforcement, such as shown at 4, such box-shaped reinforcement being provided with a lower flange 5 secured to the end wall 2 by rivets 6, which are preferably flat-headed. The structural elements thus far described are known in box or crate construction.

Located in each corner of the box or crate is a reinforcing angle-piece which fits into the corner formed by the intersection of the side wall I and end wall 2. Said angle piece I strongly reinforces the corner joint and is provided with the two flanges 8 and 9 at right angles to one another and integrally connected at their upper ends by the stacking lug l0. Said lug l0 projects above the top of the crate and holds the crate in proper stacked relation with a similar crate stacked on top of it.

The flange indicated at 9 overlies the wooden side wall I and the flange indicated at 8 is disposed within an elongated pocket or channel ll formed in the end wall 2, as clearly seen in Figs. 3 and 4. Said channel has a closed upper end l3, located below the flange 5 and near the top of the crate and terminates at M adjacent to the lower end of the crate, and is situated adjacent to the corner of the crate. The angular reinforcing piece 1, when fitted on the inside of the crate at the corner thereof will have its flange 3 located within the channel, and is maintained therein by means of a plurality of spaced fiat-head rivets indicated at l5.

This arrangement is such that the longitudinal the end wall 2 outwardly to produce a verticallydisposed rib in such end wall of the crate adjacent to the corner of the crate and such rib, in addition to forming the channel H for the flange 8 of the angular reinforcing piece'l, lends stiffness and strength to the end wall in which the same is formed.

While I have herein described a single corner structure for the box or crate, it will be apparent that such construction may be present in all four corners of the same.

Having described one embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexed claim.

What I claim is:

A corner construction for crates comprising, an end wall and a side wall connected together at right angles to form a corner joint, the end wall being composed of sheet metal, the top of the metal end wall being reinforced by a box reinforcement, an angle-piece fitted on the inside of the crate in the corner joint and having flanges attached to the end wall and side wall respectively, the end wall being provided with an elongated'pocket in which one of the flanges is secured to thereby protect the longitudinal REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file'of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 23,178 Praeger et a1 Nov. 29, 1949 2,009,527 Shelton V July 30, 1935 I 2,138,424 McCutchen Nov. 29, 1938 2,169,450 McCutchen Aug. 15, 1939 2,496,965 Swingle Feb. 7, 1950 2,512,855 Erickson June 27, 1950 2,526,335 1950 Deichert Oct. 17, 

